The Monuments Men (2014)

The Monuments Men Synopsis

Based on the true story of the greatest treasure hunt in history, The Monuments Men is an action drama focusing on an unlikely World War II platoon, tasked by FDR with going into Germany to rescue artistic masterpieces from Nazi thieves and returning them to their rightful owners. It would be an impossible mission: with the art trapped behind enemy lines, and with the German army under orders to destroy everything as the Reich fell, how could these guys – seven museum directors, curators, and art historians, all more familiar with Michelangelo than the M-1 – possibly hope to succeed? But as the Monuments Men, as they were called, found themselves in a race against time to avoid the destruction of 1000 years of culture, they would risk their lives to protect and defend mankind’s greatest achievements. From director George Clooney, the film stars George Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, John Goodman, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville, and Cate Blanchett. The screenplay is by George Clooney & Grant Heslov, based on the book by Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter. Produced by Grant Heslov and George Clooney.

Politics are the daily grind at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. But when in comes to award season politics, the White House wanted to play no part, and so issued a moratorium on East Wing screenings back in November. But that ban was lifted on Monday, when officials announced The Monuments Men would screen for the President on Tuesday evening.

There have been plenty of movies and video games done in the Lego style, from Batman to Harry Potter to Star Wars, but it wasn't until someone finally figured out just how awesome Legos were on their own merit (but, you know, including Batman and Harry Potter and everything else) that the concept blew the doors off the box office.

In the film, Damon stars as James Granger, one of seven historians, architects and curators who crossed into enemy territory during the end of World War II to try and protect Europe’s most precious art and artifacts from the Nazi forces that wished to either steal or destroy it.

I think there’s something going on later today. Like a game or something. I’ll look into later. For now we’ve got a full slate of movies hitting theaters this week. We’ve got art hunters, LEGOs and vampires.

I don’t want to say that January 2014 was a bad month for cinema, but the last time I saw something that rotten, I was arrested for desecrating 13 cemeteries. Luckily, I got out on good behavior just long enough to celebrate with readers how superlative February’s theatrical releases will be in comparison.

There should be a little something for everyone in the coming year. And to help you plan out your movie-watching year, we singled out 14 titles we’re looking forward to in 2014, as well as a list of additional can’t-miss movies.

Usually viral videos are only used by big summer blockbusters, but this preview has all of the same bells and whistles, appearing as a reel that might actually exist in the world of the film while also serving in an advertising capacity. Trailers typically have to find an artful way of explaining what a movie is about, but this video is kind of an interesting short cut.

You can wipe out an entire generation. You can burn their homes to the ground. And somehow they will still find their way back. But if you destroy their history, you destroy their achievements, then it's as if they never existed.

Based on a true story, The Monuments Men follows a team of museum directors, curators, and art historians who are sent behind enemy lines during World War II to try and recover all kinds of art that was stolen by the Nazis before they can be destroyed.

Based on a true story and adapted into a screenplay by Clooney and Grant Heslov, The Monuments Men follows a special platoon serving in World War II with one very specific mission: to help find and rescue artistic masterpieces of all varieties before that Nazi thieves that stole them can destroy them.

Based on a true story and adapted from Robert M. Edsel’s The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History, the film stars Clooney as George Stout, a man who starts up the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archives program, which was founded in order to save pre-WWII art and other cultural artifacts from Adolf Hitler and the property-destroying Nazis.

The first trailer establishes the WWII-era dramedy as a blend of everything from Ocean’s 11 and The Good German to Saving Private Ryan and The Dirty Dozen. Basically, it looks fantastic. Clooney makes exactly the type of movie I want to see in theaters, and Monuments Men looks like another potential home run.

First up we have a still from this December's trip back to Middle-earth. As is suggested by the image, the race of Elves will be playing a much more important role in the second part of The Hobbit trilogy and will feature both some new and old faces.

Clooney, who’ll direct and star, co-wrote the Monuments screenplay with Smokehouse co-producer and frequent collaborator Grant Heslov. They are basing their story on Robert M. Edsel with Bret Witter’s book about a platoon of museum directors and curators ordered by FDR to go behind enemy lines in the closing days of WWII and retrieve priceless, stolen works of art from the Nazis.

They pulled three separate heist jobs together in Steven Soderbergh's Oceans 11, 12, and 13, and went behind the scenes of the oil industry in Syriana, but now George Clooney is set to reunite with Matt Damon for an ensemble film of his own making. Damon, whose only film of 2012, Promised Land, won't be released until December 28th, is now in talks to join the ranks of The Monuments Men, Clooney's next directorial effort.

When George Clooney calls and asks you to take part in his next movie, you apparently say yes no matter who you are. The actor-turned-director, who earned a Best Director Oscar nomination for Good Night, And Good Luck, has been assembling a list of names for his next project, Monuments Men and it's a pretty star-studded affair

Though earlier this year The Artist's Jean Dujardin beat out George Clooney for the Academy Award for Best Actor, it appears there are no hard feelings between them as The Descendants' headliner is currently looking to collaborate with the French film star in his upcoming war drama The Monuments Men.

Clooney is describing the project, called The Monuments Men for now, is his top priority, which means his planned Smothers Brothers film might have to wait. I'm fine with that-- the idea of this World War II story is far too intriguing to wait too long to see it.